Is a ShopVac Mouse Trap Ethical?

I think you guys are missing the point. First you have to catch the mouse, before you can deside what to do with it. This Shop-Vac Motion Sensor Mouse Catcher Attachment will catch the mouse. So who's going to make one and try it themselves? Make it better.

@soubriquet we were invaded by shrews and guess what? We used humane traps and got rid of the infestation in a week.

If you've ever found your house being invaded by mice, you'll know that "ethical" as a consideration is only very temporary.

I had a green-minded, animal friendly girlfriend, vegetarian and deeply opposed to killing our little furry invaders, she bought humane traps, but the mice laughed at them.

They found her lingerie drawer, and chewed and shat their way through it. As mice do. That was the incident that gave me free rein to slaughter the little bastards.
Spring "Little Nipper" traps everywhere, plus poison, plus water traps....
In a little over a week the score was thirty six to me, none to her.
In another week, there was no further infestation.
No sightings, no returnees. Dead mice are gone forever, and have no further offspring. Released mice? They breed like crazy and then come back with zillions of great-great grand-kids.

My advice? If you decide that you're at war with mice, then just eradicate them, any way you can. They don't read treaties or respect cease-fires.

Regarding the supposed Wordpress problem I have posted hundreds if not thousands of comments on Wordpress blogs and never experienced this problem so we can only assume that either:

(1) it's your browser,
(2) it's you, or
(3) you are some sort of Google shill.

Which is it?

"we catch mice and release them out in a field a mile from our house"

so that hawks and owls can snatch them up and dangle them from their claws... then pick at their meat while they'er still alive! baaahahaha! i love you people! i DO love hawks and owls however... so please keep feeding them, thanks!

me? i have hockey sticks all around my house... little buggers are like a well placed one-timer!

It can be considered ethical as long as ROHSA (Rodent Occupational Health & Safety) have properly inspected it and appropriate safety goggles, hard-hat and training have been provided.

Also, since gluetraps were mentioned: vegetable oil dissolves the glue in gluetraps. I was able to rescue a little lizard I found stuck in a gluetrap with vegetable oil without pulling off his limbs.

I think for a DIY challenge the Shopvac should tweet you when it activates. @YourShopVacMouseCatcher: "I got something!"

What you need is a shop vac with a good strong blow function. Then you can have hours of entertainment firing mice out into the fields/traffic/cat.

Let's not forget...it's a mouse...ethical? Kill it by any means necessary. At least glue traps make them suffer and traditional traps might partially crush it...this is kewl DIY mouse torture fun :)
PETA spys...they're everywhere

I think that dev summarized the ethical conundrum properly. The ethical quality of this trap depends upon unstated presuppositions.

Ethical is in the eye of the beholder and it's hard to behold anything that goes on inside of a shop vac. I'd suggest cutting a small viewing port in the side of the machine and installing a piece of plexiglass. Then I'd set up a webcam also triggered by the IR sensor so that videos of the mouse going 'round 'n round' could be sent to YouTube for mindless viewing by the unwashed masses. Just bear in mind that kitties like peanut butter as much as mice do and I would be embarassed to post a video of my kitten being sucked into the vortex of doom. On second thought the ride lasts for only abut three seconds and there will probably be plenty of fresh mice to eat.

Ethical? Hell yes!

PPS: I've encountered this on every wordpress blog I have commented on (and there have been several).

Comment does not show up, no error, no message, no moderation, no nothing. Reposting the same comment gives: "you've already said that". AAAARRRRCH.

Only fix is to comment again with a different nick.

Waaaaaaaaaaay more ethical than those glue traps! OMG, BRUTAL! Literally crawl out of their skins to get away and they usually can't. HORRIBLE way to die.

And I'd prefer momentary vertigo and being released outside than having my neck, shoulders and legs snapped by a spring bar trap!

Here we go again. No, strictly speaking it's not ethical. So what? You live a perfectly ethical life?
There is a lot worse to worry about in today's world than a mouse.

(PS: when is wordpress gonna fix that black hole into which comments sometimes disappear for no reason whatsoever?)

No not ethical at all. Just get a humane Have-a-Heart trap... that is what we do we catch mice and release them out in a field a mile from our house.

I don't really think it's a question of "ethical".

As a water trap, it's reasonably humane. It's also highly targeted, which prevents the collateral damage that typically accompanies open water traps and poisons. And lastly, it appears that it should be highly effective.

The only way this would be unethical is if it was constructed in such a way to intentionally inflict additional torment on its victims or to cause them to die very slowly due to indifference to their suffering.

That's a ridiclously expensive and complicated mousetrap. Escpecically when you consider effective traps (both "humane" and otherwise) and poisons are available for little more than pennies.

It seems to be a successful exercise in demonstrating how cheap, simple and effective existing mousetraps are.

It depends on how long mousey lives after getting caught. I say put yourself in the mouse's paws. If you shudder at the thought of dieing that way then it isn't ethical. The fast death from a spring mousetrap is not bad at all. Why mess with the classics?

If you think "ethical" is checking a live trap regularly and releasing them, then that's fine. If you think it's more ethical to kill them quick, use a normal or rotary trap. It really doesn't matter except to the individual catching the mouse, because there's no point in arguing it with someone who feels differently.

What this story needs is first-person-video from the perspective of the mouse.

Much like what you find when you search on Youtube for "Prairie Dog Vacuum"